28 February 2009

9 February 2009

He ran quickly around the corner and rushed to hide in the shadows of a dark alley, just off the main road. The two policemen who had attempted to arrest him missed this, and kept running past into the night. He breathed a sigh of relief; this was a close one.

Just over an hour ago, he got an anonymous call asking to buy 2 kilos of his prime product. 2 full kilos. A good deal if there ever was one, but he should have been suspicious. The product he sold was pretty rare nowadays, and unfortunately with the recent police clampdown, buyers were hard to find. When a big opportunity strikes, however, the mind lays low.

The man on the other side of the phone spoke slowly, in a calm, deep voice;

"I need two kilos of your best stuff. I'll meet you in the alley next to Bab Al Bahrain in 45 minutes, just past midnight." "Two kilos?""That's what I said." "Okay, i'll be there""Click...."

He should have been suspicious. A while later he drove up past Bab Al Bahrain, parked his car away from the scene, and moved in the shadows. He carried two kilos with him; not exactly an amount of product you can carry discreetly, but he tried. He had wrapped the product in black plastic bags and newspapers, and dumped the whole thing into two large Geant shopping bags.

He walked in the shadows till he reached the meeting point, and there he glanced someone waiting in the dark. He walked closer, but was commanded to stop;

"Don't come any closer. Do you have it with you?" "Yes. Two kilos worth.""Let me see it."

He looked around to make sure no one was in the vicinity, and started to unwrap one of the packages; as he opened it up, he could smell its scent fill the area. The anonymous buyer stood in the shadows watching.

"How much.." "Three hundred and fifty."

He had actually pushed his price up a little; mainly because of the rarity of his product, but also because the situation was a little shadier than usual, and he didn't even know this customer.

"Okay,"

said the voice in the shadows as he reached for the money from his pocket. But it wasn't money that he pulled out.

In a split second, the quiet midnight streets of the Souq were filled with screams on a two-way radio to capture the dealer, the screech of tires and wail of a police-car siren coming out from it's hideout, and the sounds of policemen running towards him with their batons.

His mind worked quickly. He had to leave his product behind; two kilos would only slow him down, so he turned around and jetted off into the shadows. He knew the back alleys of this area better than anyone else, growing up in the neighborhood as a child. He knew every corner and every turn, and banked on his childhood memory to save him from a lengthy jail sentence.

His memory served him well; as he heard the police footsteps running closer, he ran quickly around the corner and rushed to hide in the shadows of a dark alley, just off the main road. The two policemen who had attempted to arrest him missed this, and kept running past into the night. He breathed a sigh of relief; this was a close one.

Meanwhile, back at the sting scene, the police picked up the two kilos of pork to take in as evidence.

"Wow.. Have you ever seen this much pork in your life?""Damn pork dealers..."

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MPs call for ban on pork9 February 2009

EIGHT MPs are recommending two-month jail terms or fines of BD300, or both, for anyone in Bahrain who imports, sells or simply possesses pork.They are all members of the Al Asala bloc, which has already drafted amendments to Bahrain's Penal Code that would outlaw pork.

Now I gotta say guys, the scene with our friendly pork dealer above isn't as close as you might think to being fiction. I don't eat pork, and in reality the law wouldn't affect me personally in the least. However, it does affect freedoms in this country, which our MPs seem to think should be made as rare as pork in the above story. Last week, they tried to outlaw alcohol on Gulf Air flights (a frickin' international airline, for God's sake), and then tried to ban alcohol from everywhere in Bahrain. Again, doesn't affect me personally, but it's going to affect everything from tourism, to businesses, to restaurants, to the lot. Just because you're a religion freak with a Made-in-Taiwan Halo over your head doesn't mean you should play god. Banning something doesn't make people more religious; it makes them retaliate more. Pork isn't exactly available everywhere in Bahrain; just a few specific supermarkets, and a limited number of restaurants.

Oh, and this may shock you MP's, but the people who usually purchase pork AREN'T USUALLY MUSLIM. And even if they were, it's their goddamn choice whether they want to follow the religion, not yours. So get off our backs and start coming up with some resolutions that will actually benefit the country, like creating more jobs, help diversify the economy, and... Oh wait, I forgot, half of you guys don't have more than a school degree and have no idea what i'm talking about.